Rita Slaoui is a sophomore from Casablanca, Morocco, double concentrating in history and Middle East studies. She is interested in questions of gender, sexuality, and racialization in the Middle East, as well as in the intersection of academia and activism. She currently works as Professor Nadje Al-Ali’s research assistant for a book on decolonizing knowledge production about gender activism in the Middle East. Over the past summer, Rita had the opportunity to intern at kohl, a queer feminist academic journal based in Lebanon. She is also part of queer and feminist activist groups in the region.